Revealed: How The U.S. Secret Service Nabbed The Dave & Buster's Hackers

WASHINGTON -- The inside story on how the U.S. Secret Service busted the international hacker ring that targeted Dave & Buster's, along with several other U.S. retailers in 2007 and 2008, has been published by Ars Technica.

The hackers stole data from 240,000 credit cards. About 81,000 of those cards were breached at 11 Dave & Buster's stores in Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Texas, resulting in more than $600,000 in losses to issuing banks and other institutions.

According to Ars Technica reporter Nate Anderson, U.S. authorities used a wide range of powerful investigative weapons and partners from Europe through the Middle East to crack the case.

"The Dave & Buster's case does make one thing perfectly clear," said Anderson. "When the government intends to take you down, the resources at their disposal are phenomenal."

As Vending Times reported in July, one of the hackers was recently sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $975,000 in fines and restitution. | SEE STORY